Hello again. Latest trip was to Venice, after dropping off my mother at Venice airport for her return flight to Melbourne. I have been there a couple of times, including the last time when I was totally lost in getting from San Marco square to the railway station - if you don't know where you are going Venice can be very confusing with its maze of streets. Luckily there is some signage giving you directions but forget trying to follow a map, as street signs are few and far between. But at least there are no cars.
Hotel
The best thing about the hotel was that it was near the railway station - as I was catching the train back to Trieste and then bus onto Piran. My room had some similarities to a prison cell in size and amenities. I had a window which was a view of the adjacent building, cables, pipes and water tanks. I guess they need to put that stuff somewhere. The bathroom had the usual butt washer (aka bidet), which meant there wasn't much room for anything else; when sitting on the toilet your knees were under the washbasin. I guess the advantage of that is that you could multi task with brushing your teeth etc.
Around Venice
Unsurprisingly, I saw a lot of tourists taking photos but one man I saw was taking pictures of women's shoes displayed in a window. A shoe salesman perhaps?
I can see where Piran got its ideas for urban design from (it was part of the Venetian empire for a while) with narrow confusing, cobbled, "streets" (lanes) going off in all directions. They even share the same clock tower design. Piran's is copied from the Venice one.
It's a very pretty (but busy) place and one of the best things to do of an evening is to eat pasta overlooking the grand canal. The next time I visit I will have some clue as to where I am going. It's not far from Piran - less than four hours by public transport, less than the Melbourne - Bright trip.
The Trip Back
It was an adventure. On the train an American family decided to sit near me. As usual they were loud and could not stop talking but then they decided to open the window - blowing cold air into my face. At this stage I was contemplating moving at the next stop. Then the mother declared that she was going to tell everyone her next lesson. I don't know what this lesson was (how to be irritating? How to talk loudly? How to be an American tourist?) as that was my cue to move to a more peaceful part of the carriage. For this trip I decided to travel 1st class. I don't know why I bother. On most European trains these days, 2nd class is very good and not much different from 1st class. First class these days seems to be packed with irritating tourists (usually Americans) on Eurail passes. It's (1st class) probably a good way to make money out of tourists. Several Italians were thrown out of the 1st class carriage by the conductor for not having 1st class tickets despite the repeated announcements on the PA for passengers to check their tickets. One even argued with the conductor - only an Italian would argue with someone for enforcing the rules. For the trip from Trieste to Piran I caught the direct bus and we had a few "characters" on board. While waiting in the ticket queue behind the yellow line (as instructed by the sign) an old, short, woman, walked past and set up her own queue in front of everyone else. She hadn't finished; when getting on the bus she barged her way on and occupied two seats at the front with her shopping, despite the bus being quite full. Some sort of royalty? Also on the bus were three Italians, obviously excited with their trip to the Slovenian coast. One of them sat in front of me and his first action when we left was to take selfies: "gee look at me and how adventurous my life is; I am on a bus". For the rest of the trip he was resting his head on the window and the window, bus and his head jolted about. Thrill seeker or hoping for some improved brain function? We got caught in a traffic jam (people heading to the coast for the National Day long weekend here), so the bus driver, to save some time, took an alternative route which required driving up a one way road in the wrong direction - luckily there was no traffic and it's all about customer service, right?
Hotel
The best thing about the hotel was that it was near the railway station - as I was catching the train back to Trieste and then bus onto Piran. My room had some similarities to a prison cell in size and amenities. I had a window which was a view of the adjacent building, cables, pipes and water tanks. I guess they need to put that stuff somewhere. The bathroom had the usual butt washer (aka bidet), which meant there wasn't much room for anything else; when sitting on the toilet your knees were under the washbasin. I guess the advantage of that is that you could multi task with brushing your teeth etc.
Around Venice
Unsurprisingly, I saw a lot of tourists taking photos but one man I saw was taking pictures of women's shoes displayed in a window. A shoe salesman perhaps?
I can see where Piran got its ideas for urban design from (it was part of the Venetian empire for a while) with narrow confusing, cobbled, "streets" (lanes) going off in all directions. They even share the same clock tower design. Piran's is copied from the Venice one.
It's a very pretty (but busy) place and one of the best things to do of an evening is to eat pasta overlooking the grand canal. The next time I visit I will have some clue as to where I am going. It's not far from Piran - less than four hours by public transport, less than the Melbourne - Bright trip.
The Trip Back
It was an adventure. On the train an American family decided to sit near me. As usual they were loud and could not stop talking but then they decided to open the window - blowing cold air into my face. At this stage I was contemplating moving at the next stop. Then the mother declared that she was going to tell everyone her next lesson. I don't know what this lesson was (how to be irritating? How to talk loudly? How to be an American tourist?) as that was my cue to move to a more peaceful part of the carriage. For this trip I decided to travel 1st class. I don't know why I bother. On most European trains these days, 2nd class is very good and not much different from 1st class. First class these days seems to be packed with irritating tourists (usually Americans) on Eurail passes. It's (1st class) probably a good way to make money out of tourists. Several Italians were thrown out of the 1st class carriage by the conductor for not having 1st class tickets despite the repeated announcements on the PA for passengers to check their tickets. One even argued with the conductor - only an Italian would argue with someone for enforcing the rules. For the trip from Trieste to Piran I caught the direct bus and we had a few "characters" on board. While waiting in the ticket queue behind the yellow line (as instructed by the sign) an old, short, woman, walked past and set up her own queue in front of everyone else. She hadn't finished; when getting on the bus she barged her way on and occupied two seats at the front with her shopping, despite the bus being quite full. Some sort of royalty? Also on the bus were three Italians, obviously excited with their trip to the Slovenian coast. One of them sat in front of me and his first action when we left was to take selfies: "gee look at me and how adventurous my life is; I am on a bus". For the rest of the trip he was resting his head on the window and the window, bus and his head jolted about. Thrill seeker or hoping for some improved brain function? We got caught in a traffic jam (people heading to the coast for the National Day long weekend here), so the bus driver, to save some time, took an alternative route which required driving up a one way road in the wrong direction - luckily there was no traffic and it's all about customer service, right?
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